r territory of the Empire, she had already begun to
overstep its limits.

In so doing she had remained as of old and had yet become new. Creed and
dogma, above all, remained unchanged. The doctrinal decisions of the
ancient Church remained the indestructible canon of belief, and what the
theologians of the ancient Church had taught was reverenced as beyond
improvement. The entire form of divine worship remained therefore
unaltered. Even where the Latin tongue was not understood by the people,
the Church preserved it in the Mass and in the administration of the
sacraments, in her exorcisms and in her benedictions. Furthermore, the
organization of ecclesiastical offices remained unchanged: the division
of the Church into bishoprics and the grouping together of bishoprics
into metropolitan dioceses. Finally, the property and the whole social
status of the Church and of the hierarchy remained unchanged, as did
also the conviction that the perfection of the Christian life was to be
sought and found in the monastic profession.

Nevertheless, the new conditions did exercise the strongest influence
upon the character of the Church. The churches of the Lombards, West
Goths, Franks and Anglo-Saxons, all counted themselves parts of the
Catholic Church; but the Catholic Church had altered its condition; it
lacked the power of organization, and split up into territorial
churches. Under the Empire the ecumenical council had been looked upon
as the highest representative organ of the Catholic Church; but the
earlier centuries of the middle ages witnessed the convocation of no
ecumenical councils. Under the Empire the bishop of Rome had possessed
in the Church an authority recognized and protected by the State;
respect for Rome and for the successor of Saint Peter was not forgotten
by the new territorial churches, but it had altered in character; legal
authority had become merely moral authority; its wielder could exhort,
warn, advise but could not command.

On the other hand, the kings did command in the Church. They certainly
claimed no authority over faith or doctrine, and they too respected
doctrinal law; but they succeeded in asserting their rights to a
practical share in the government of the Church. The clergy and laity of
a diocese together elected their bishop, as they had done before; but no
one could become a bishop against the will of the king, and the
confirmation of their choice rested with him. The bishops continued to